Amid the Mud and the Sleaze, Remember the Issues Please

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ELECTION 2016--We all like a soap opera, don't we?  Well, this campaign season has been thrilled with antics, debauchery, and backroom sleaze.  But sooner or later, there are issues, and the host of financial issues and societal/moral issues MUST be addressed.

And YOU must address them.  YOU must address taxes, the economy, law and order, etc. 
Will the money be spent well?  Do we have a pension problem, in that we're now paying as much or more for retired state workers than current workers, with equivalent problems for the cities and counties of our state?  Do you think our taxes are at reasonable levels?

There are a lot of city, county, and state governmental hands in our faces, asking for money, money, and more money!  Our money.

Yet if things are better, with unemployment DOWN and the economy UP, then why so many hands in our faces?  There's an answer, but it's only acceptable to those willing to acknowledge the painful, awful, and ugly nature of economics:

This state has exported, if not shoved out, much of our middle class tax base, and replaced it with a two-tier system of very rich and very poor individuals.  And the cost of living is such that it's hard to know the difference between "lower middle class vs. poor" and "upper middle class vs. rich".  Good-bye TAX BASE, hello DEBT.

If you think that socialism, liberalism, and class warfare is just fine, and that the examples of Greece and Venezuela just doesn't apply to our city, county, and state, then vote "Yes" to all the tax hikes.  After all, it's not YOUR problem, is it?

Except that it is.  If you work for a small business and lose your job, any "Yes" votes on new taxes will simply be a result of taking a swing at "the man" and realizing you just punched yourself HARD in the mouth.  That taste in your mouth?  It's your own blood, not that sweet taste of victory (or if it is victory, then it's as futile a victory as any).

So here we go:

• City: This is painful for me, but I recommend a "NO" vote on Measure HHH, the $1.2 billion bond measure that is sponsored by one of my personal heroes (Mike Bonin). In large part, I oppose this measure by saying publicly what I hear privately from so many of my neighbors--the money won't be spent well, because most of LA's city government is NOT as kind or virtuous as Bonin.  Also, I don't want LA to be a homeless magnet.

I oppose the Build Better LA (Measure JJJ) and recommend a "NO" vote because while it has some "feel-good" features of minimum wages for workers and requiring Angelenos be hired as workers for development projects, the top-down approach to governmental requirements repeats the mistake that well-meant socialism always teaches: it doesn't work!!! 

This spring, vote in the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative instead!!!

Measure RRR:  Vote "YES".  It's reform, but only modest reform.  It's a start, though, yet woefully insufficient...yet something is better than nothing.

Measure SSS: Vote "NO".  Yes, LA Airport Police Officers deserve a good pension, but allowing them into the same unsustainable LA City police/fire department pension plan is just throwing more weight on a train that just can't be expected to move forward forever.
And speaking of trains...

• County:  Vote YES on Measure M--It's one of the most defined tax measures we have if not THE most defined measure, and its biggest detractors claim it doesn't go far enough. Yes, I am a "pro-train" guy, but had serious doubts about this measure until I realized how popular transportation still is for our county. And I very much do want ALL of our county to advocate for each of our regions' mobility.

This next one is also painful, because I absolutely LOVE parks and recreation!  Vote "NO" on Measure A because it's a "modest parcel tax" to maintain our parks, recreation centers, rivers and beaches.  Yet if it's a cause good enough for all of us, why is the middle class the one being asked to pay for it all?  I can't think of a better way to create a future draconian "Proposition 13-style" initiative than to keep smacking around homeowners--virtually none of them are in "1%".

• LA Community College District--this is an easy one: Vote "NO" on Measure CC. What the hell is that district doing, asking for more money when they burned through billions of dollars on scandal-plagued, often-subpar work? And what the hell would be OUR problem if we fed that beast more money at this time? 

...aaaaand it's now understood that time and space probably prevents me from addressing other issues (like the state measures) for now.  But educate yourselves! Ignore the Trump/Clinton soap opera long enough to focus on the city, county, and state issues that will really affect your lives!

And vote, darn it, vote!  Even if you hate the two main presidential candidates, the "down" races and measures are more critical and affect you, your paycheck, your family, and your neighborhood more than any presidential race.  Democracy is NOT for sissies, so dig in, do your research, and vote!

 

(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at  [email protected]. He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)

-cw